Cristiano Tercelli

Head of Technology & Innovation Minimills and Long Rolling, Primetals Technologies, Austria

Cristiano Tercelli graduated in Chemical Engineering in 1988 and in the same year he joined Danieli as process engineer. He has been Head of Metallurgy for long products in Danieli until 1997 and in SMS Concast till 2017. He has contributed to the technological development of steelmaking and rolling equipment for long products, in particular continuous casting for SBQ, mechanical soft reduction, direct hot charging and endless rolling processes. Cristiano joined Primetals Technologies in 2017 as Head of Technology and Innovation for Minimills and Long Rolling.

Abstract: Highly efficient mini mills with scrap preheating, direct rolling, and new process models. Steelmakers are facing challenging times due to production overcapacity, volatile markets, and stricter environmental regulations. As a consequence new investments for mini mills are focused on conversion cost, foot print, quality requirements of the final product, and efficiency of the mills. Steelmakers have the possibility to build a customized solution based on market environment, end product size, and quality. The paper will focus on mini mills with a capacity up to 450,000 tons per year of long products. It points out ways to reach a high flexibility of input materials (scrap, DRI, HBI), lowest conversion cost, and smallest footprint. Operational results as well a detailed overview of the newest technology implemented in recent projects related to scrap preheating, direct rolling, automation, and safety will be shown. Due to all-embracing process models, a new level of automation and mill efficiency can be reached.